Small jars with lids work great for to-go applesauce, but those make our cooler weigh 380 pounds. Plus, I wanted to give some to Asa for his dorm fridge but didn’t want him to have to mess with saving all the jars to bring home. The cups with lids are a great solution!

~~Let us all pause here to say nice things about avoiding plastic and disposables in general. Plastic disposables are not our friend. I agree and I know there are strong opinions about this. Right now I’m the mother of many teenage boys who are active, hungry, and on-the-go frequently. It was either compromise and buy these plastic cups in an effort to save us money and help us eat well on the road – or spend more to buy them pre-made – or buy junk from concessions or McDonalds. I chose the plastic disposables and I am excited about what this provides for my family right now. Now, back to the cute applesauce cups.~~

This batch of applesauce turned out such a pretty shade of pink because I used a variety of dark red apples with very white flesh (Empire, I believe). No one who eats this can believe I didn’t add sugar. No need for sugar, my friends. Not when God made apples this good and sweet.

Have any other good ideas to share for fun travel foods?

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When I was a college student traveling on our choir tour bus, we were given turkey sandwiches, chips, and an apple in a sack every day for lunch 11 days in a row. I was grateful for the sustenance, but I haven’t looked at a turkey sandwich the same way since. Even the cafeteria food looked good after that.

(I know, I know. First world problems. Don’t go all you are a spoiled American on me. That was simply my earth shattering opening paragraph to grab your attention before I say, “Here are some non-sandwich ideas for food you can take on the road to save you money while you eat healthy.”

So here are some non-sandwich ideas for food you can take on the road to save you money while you eat healthy. See? See how much better that sounded after my introductory paragraph about turkey sandwich burn-out?

Soup in a Jar

My family thought I was a little crazy when I told them I was taking potato soup to eat on the road on our way to the tournament this weekend. What can I say? Potato Soup sounded really good to me. I made a full pot of soup, then filled jars and packed spoons. Soup with cheese and raspberries was surprisingly easy to eat on the road and everyone loved it!

Pudding Makes a Great Breakfast

We had a fridge in our hotel this weekend, so I made Tapioca Pudding and packed it up to eat for Matt and me to eat for breakfast. It was fun! I made a cup of coffee in the little coffeepot, then sat down with some fruit, my coffee, my Bible, and my tapioca. This also worked great to pack the pudding in our cooler for a snack in the afternoon. Don’t like Tapioca? Here’s my Vanilla, Chocolate, and Butterscotch recipes. :)

Somehow my sliced cheese made it into this tapioca picture and the soup picture above. It’s like I wanted to really brag about how well I cut the cheese.

Some Obvious Non-Sandwich Ideas

You’ve probably already thought of several of these, but they are worth mentioning anyway:

Freggies Rule the World

Fruits and veggies are super easy to pack and eat on the road. From berries to apples to oranges to carrots to sliced cucumbers to mini sweet peppers. If you do nothing else, PACK FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. This is the only thing that keeps our stomachs happy while traveling. Do this.

Eating out while on the road is fun too, and our family likes to splurge on occasion! But I always love to figure out more road trip food ideas. So share yours! What do you pack to eat on the road?

I’m curious what you guys eat while you are on the road. Do you pack meals, or do you have a few “go-to” places that serve healthier food? Also, when you are visiting family/friends do you just put healthy eating on the back burner? I’ve gotten the impression that you value relationships with people more than being a stickler with healthy/real eating. So, what does that look like when you are visiting people and staying in their home? And if you do just eat whatever is served, how does that affect how you feel (physically)?

I decided to break down all the questions and answer them individually. So here goes!

I’m curious what you guys eat while you are on the road. Do you pack meals, or do you have a few “go-to” places that serve healthier food?

When we plan to only be on the road for one day, we can typically pack all of our food. This obviously means we can eat much healthier food, plus it keeps our costs much lower. (Eating out costs a minimum of $35 for our family – ouch!)

Taking along fruits and vegetables has been so helpful in keeping us from feeling gross on a road trip. We munch on apples, clementines, berries, carrots, sweet peppers, and cucumbers along the way so that even if we do need to grab fast food, our stomachs don’t rebel as much. We are also careful to drink plenty of water. Well…I’ll admit to drinking a little less than normal to avoid taking quite as many potty stops. (“Mom, you pee all the time!” I’m not sure why they are still shocked about this.)

When we are on the road for many days at a time, it becomes significantly more difficult to pack food. Somewhere between Durango, CO and home, I snapped a couple pictures of the food in my lap to give you an idea of how we eat during long road trips.

Once I ran into a grocery store while Matt filled our van with gas (LOVING the lower prices on gas right now, by the way!). The deli section had a few items marked down that I grabbed. Some are compromise foods, but wow was this a tasty lunch. We enjoyed big salads with popcorn chicken, fresh raspberries, and sweet peppers. I also picked up some chips and fresh salsa for snacking later that day.

In an effort to keep our food stops quick, we do sometimes hit a fast food restaurant. Sometimes we get salads, but come on. Our family rarely goes to Chick fil a, so we really enjoyed our treat of chicken sandwiches and waffle fries.

That’s the beauty of eating out very rarely. When we do, it’s a treat. And yes, we do feel kind of bleh later. ;)

When you are visiting family/friends do you just put healthy eating on the back burner? I’ve gotten the impression that you value relationships with people more than being a stickler with healthy/real eating. So, what does that look like when you are visiting people and staying in their home?

When we are visiting others, we focus on enjoying fellowship and appreciating the hospitality of others – no matter what food is served. On this trip, we were served everything from farm fresh eggs or mixed green salad to canned cinnamon rolls or non-dairy whipped topping. We ate it all with gratitude. Actually, I didn’t eat it all. My system really can’t handle high amounts of sugar anymore, so I had to graciously decline some offerings. Like on the eggs and cinnamon roll morning, I just ate eggs and drank coffee with our hosts. No one questioned why I wasn’t eating rolls, and trust me, my boys ate my share. :)

During our extended stay in California, we were able to eat many delicious home-cooked and healthy meals – some prepared by me, many prepared by other loving hands. We also ordered pizza once to maintain the sanity of all the mothers trying to keep up with all the festivities. Balance is key, right?

If you do just eat whatever is served, how does that affect how you feel (physically)?

No doubt, our bodies do feel the difference in eating choices (and lack of activity) after a day or so. We’ve found that as long as we continue drinking plenty of water and find ways to sneak in fruits and vegetables, we do okay. Now that we’re home, we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled program of eating mostly whole foods.

Here’s a picture of our shopping cart yesterday when we got back home from being on the road for 12 days:

I had done some price matching on my phone during the 5,934 hours I had to sit and do nothing in the van. Most of what I found didn’t work to price match, but I did get four pineapple for $1.29 each, and golden delicious apples for just 68¢ per pound. Mixed greens, spinach, raspberries, blueberries, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and zucchini came home with us, as well as some cheese, buttermilk, yogurt, and cream. Tonight we’ll pick up our farm fresh milk (can’t wait!) and get back to our normal dairy drinking and culturing.

Oh, and see the big turkey in my cart? More on that tomorrow, because obviously, you want to know all about my turkey.

So how about you? How to you eat when traveling? What works best for your family?

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Last weekend, we headed out of state to a weekend-long basketball tournament for our boys. It was two and a half days full of hotel continental breakfasts, fast food, and other treats. Weekends like that can be a lot of fun. At the same time, we knew our stomachs would start to rebel after a meal or two of white flour, white sugar, and grease. In an effort to give us some good nutrition in the midst of ice cream cones and burgers, I packed as many colorful fruits and vegetables as I could.

While I was getting it prepared the morning we were to leave, it occurred to me how pretty it all was. Out came the camera. After all, I had plenty of time for food photography in the midst of laundry, packing, and making last minute preparations, right?

I made good use of my Pyrex dishes with lids. These travel well, and keep fruits and vegetables from getting squished. They all stack nicely together in a cooler, and keep the food fresh. I simply stuck a few ice packs in and around the food containers, and it all stayed chilled and nice all weekend long.

My encouragement to you with this post is to think outside the box a little bit as you pack fruits and veggies for travel. Before just a year or two ago, I didn’t really think beyond packing apples and carrots. Those got old after a while. Then I started noticing what other families had packed to eat during games. Oh, there are so many great options!

For this round of travel, beyond apples and clementines, we washed, prepared, and packed 2 pounds of strawberries to munch on, grape tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and ranch dip, and sweet peppers. We also had a few applesauce and peach cups packed with spoons.

While we enjoyed our fair share of restaurant food, we were able to counter it with nutrient-filled food too. This was especially important, we felt, for our boys who were playing hard and sweating all weekend long. They needed energy and nourishment!

Here’s a list I created so you can get some fruits-and-veggies-on-the-go ideas at a quick glance: